One Born of a Dragon
by Kharivas
Summary: Final Fantasy VII's foul-mouthed pilot ponders his heritage, but when he finally finds it out, it turns out to be much more than he bargained for..
1. Descendant of Kain

ONE BORN OF A DRAGON -- by Kharivas  
Part One: Descendant of Kain  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am the author formerly known as Raptorian1. This is my first attempt at writing a truly serious fanfic. Now don't get me wrong here, but I often have anal-retentive standards for my own writing, thus when I think a fanfic I've written is a masterpiece, it HAS to be pretty damned good. That was the case when I finished writing this.  
  
BACKGROUND INFO: When I read a character profile of FFIV's Kain on FFExtreme.com, I immediately took notice of his surname -- his full name, according to aforementioned profile, was Kain Highwind. This was far too odd to go unrecognized and thus I wrote this fic to explain what possibly could have been the genetic origin of our favorite potty-mouthed pilot. This is Part One of a four-part series.  
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Cid Highwind sat in a relatively vacant cargo bay of his self-named airship, pondering his own origins. "Do I know where I came from?" he mused. Hesitating, he added, "Does anyone?" Unknown to him at that time, an answer would soon come.  
  
The proud warrior Nanaki had not left his old comrade's side. And thus the yet-undefined crimson feline stepped into that cargo bay -- his reasons for doing so unknown even to himself -- and observed the pilot. "Cid," he uttered, "I can see that something is troubling you. What is it?"  
  
Cid reeled back at the familiar voice. "Goddamn dog! I told you not to come in h--... oh, what the hell." He muffled a sigh of sorrow, instead puffing idly on a cigarette. "I dunno who the hell to call my 'family' anymore. Anyone who was actually related to me is dead now and I know absolutely nothin' about them..."  
  
Red XIII nodded in understanding. "Hmm, yes. That would be quite troubling. Alright then, Cid. Please, allow me to tell you this story that took place on a distant world. My Grandpa told it to me once."  
  
"This @#$% better be good."  
  
The Clan of Dragon Warriors had a proud tradition. Even before the rise of the Kingdoms, before the call to power that was bestowed upon Baron, upon Mysidia, upon Fabul or Damcyan.. the Dragon Warriors were there, strong and vigilant. They were a mysterious lot, and little is known about them -- but here is what is known..  
  
They were originally dragon slayers. To bring down the mighty fire-breathing beasts, they put themselves through greatly strenuous training -- physical and mental alike -- to achieve greater strength, greater agility, greater endurance and knowledge.  
  
To be a Dragon Warrior required many things, and one of these -- the one thing for which most people now recognize these elusive lancers -- was the ability to reach great heights with a single jump. This skill was absolutely mandatory for every man, woman, or child who trained to become a Dragoon. The training for this technique was especially hard, and it is rumored by those who speak of it that one must nearly starve oneself to accomplish such things. The ultimate payoff for this training, however, was well worth the self-sacrifice required to achieve it. The Universe's greatest Dragon Warriors have even been rumored to have the ability to fly.  
  
Why, though, was such a great feat required of these warriors? It was -- of course -- because of the great winged beasts against which they fought. More often than not, a badly-injured dragon would retreat from battle, knowing a petty armor-clad human could not follow it into the sky. When the Dragoons mastered their potential, these dragons found themselves quite mistaken -- and often dead.  
  
Just before the rise of the first great kingdom, There was a time of turmoil in the world where the dragons threatened the rise of human civilization itself. Where the building of cities began, the great reptiles would destroy everyone and everything in their path, preventing kingdoms from coming to power.   
  
The Dragon Warriors, however, had been taught the virtue of patience. They would remain dormant, honing their power until the Great Battle itself came. Then would be the time to emerge from the shadows and destroy the threat. One valiant warrior who knew it would be far too late by then stepped forward and opposed the collective hive mentality of his Clanmates. This man, whose name is now lost in the mists of time, singlehandedly defeated the evil dragons and helped rebuild that which had been destroyed.   
  
The phrase 'Dragoon' was coined by a villager who related the word itself to a great and powerful sky god, suggesting that the Dragon Warriors should henceforth be called by that name.  
  
When the heroic 'Dragoon', who had most likely saved the future of humanity, returned to his clan, he was shunned and cast out for his lack of patience and common sense. After aiding in the construction of a new capitol city called Baron, he settled there and found a wife -- her name equally forgotten -- with whom he lived the rest of his life. The Clan of Dragon Warriors eventually came to accept the first Dragoon as the savior he was, and built a monument in his likeness. His name is not mentioned anywhere on the monument itself.  
  
Many generations later, an honorable and valiant Dragoon named Logan became the first member of the Clan of Dragon Warriors to voluntarily leave the clan. Thereafter, he joined the Royal Army of the Kingdom of Baron and met a beautiful young woman with whom he sired a single son -- Kain Highwind was the child's name.  
  
"Wait just a damn second," Cid interrupted, tapping his foot against the ground impatiently. "What does this have to do with anything!? Didn't you say this @#$%&*# story took place on another planet?"  
  
"Yes," Nanaki replied. "It did. But you are not letting me finish the story -- then you will understand."  
  
Yet another generation passed, and Kain had grown to become a Dragoon just like his father had been. An internal turmoil was abound in the kingdom of Baron at that time -- the whole story is long, and quite irrelevant, but suffice it to say their King went mad with power, using the kingdom's air force to gather the world's Elemental Crystals. There was a great evil behind all of this, an evil being known as Zemus who planned to destroy the world. Before he could, a group  
of brave heroes defeated him and restored order. Amongst these heroes was Kain Highwind himself.  
  
"I still don't get it," Cid grumbled.  
  
"Perhaps that's because you interrupt me so often. Please, just let me finish."  
  
After the final battle had been fought, the heroes had little to do other than return to their homes and continue with their lives as usual. The Holy Knight, Cecil Harvey, married a White Mage named Rosa and took control of Baron Kingdom. Edge, a ninja from Eblan, was a member of the royal family himself and returned home to claim his father's throne. Kain Highwind and Rydia, however, had nowhere to truly call home -- the former a wanderer by nature, the second simply because her home village had been destroyed.  
  
Their civilization was at quite an advanced stage by then. Interstellar travel was not considered unrealistic -- and by the time Rydia matured, it had actually become a reality. Seeking to begin new lives on another world, Kain and Rydia married and escaped to this Planet, and the two of them settled in a secluded mountainous area near what is now Rocket Town.  
  
"Okay," Cid grunted. "So the Dragoon and his beautiful Summoner wife settled down and lived happily ever after. I still don't get what the @#$% it has to do with me!"  
  
"It cannot simply be a coincidence," Nanaki stated, "that your surname -- like theirs -- is Highwind. It would also fit to serve that one of your very weapons was once used by your father. Do you remember the Dragoon Lance we found in Wutai?"  
  
"Yeah," Cid answered. "What about it?"  
  
"That very weapon was used by your father in the fight against evil." Nanaki looked up at his old friend. "..Or at least I am inclined to believe he was your father. Your lineage has been unknown to you for the entire span of your life thus far. Now that you know of it, I am eager to ask what path you choose."  
  
Cid's cigarette fell out of his mouth. "What the @#$% do you mean by that!? You damn well know I'm a pilot and that's what @#$%*# path I choose!"  
  
"You already accomplished your dream," Red XIII pointed out. "You took the ShinRa 26 up into space. That was what you wanted all along. Now that this goal is complete, would it not be wise to consider a change of profession?"  
  
Cid hesitated.  
  
"What do you choose? What legacy will you carry on? That of Cid Highwind, the lowly and disgruntled pilot... or that of Cid Highwind, descendant of Kain?"  
  
And then there was silence. Cid's quest for answers had ended, but now he had a greater quest: to decide his own future.  
  
The quest had just begun. 


	2. A Calamity From the Skies

ONE BORN OF A DRAGON -- by Kharivas  
Part 2: A Calamity From the Skies  
  
BACKGROUND INFO: Final Fantasy VII's foul-mouthed airship pilot has finally learned his family heritage, and it was a whole hell of a lot more than he had bargained for! Now knowing that he is the only son of FF4's Kain Highwind himself, Cid must make the decision of a lifetime and choose his path.  
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"You were not prepared to hear this," Nanaki observed. "I can sense your uncertainty. You refuse to take up your father's glorious profession; you even seem to be refusing his very relation to you. I told you earlier that I was unsure of Kain Highwind's true relation -- or lack thereof -- to yourself, yet it cannot be a simple coincidence. The two of you have a certain cosmetic similarity in that your manes are both a dull yellow in hue. You both wield the traditional weapon of the Dragon Warriors, the spear. Most notable of all is that you both share the family name of Highwind."  
  
Cid took a long, defiant drag from his half-smoked cigarette. "You just don't get it, dog." He tossed the butt away and stomped it out with a vengeful boot. "Even if Kain is my daddy, why should I follow in his damned footsteps and become a Dragoon?"  
  
Red XIII hesitated. For this he simply had no answer -- almost all of his knowledge was based upon what his wise old Grandfather had taught him. After a moment of awkward silence, he replied. "You already have the skills for it. In your Limit Breaks, more often than not, you can jump to a great height and come down on your enemies with the fury of your lance. The Clan of Dragon Warriors had a similar technique. They--"  
  
"Goddamnit!" Cid barked, startling Nanaki and stopping him in mid-sentence. "I KNOW what Dragoons do and I KNOW what I do! They're two different things -- and I will NOT become a @#$%&*# Dragoon unless the Lifestream freezes over! Do I make myself clear!?"  
  
Nanaki meekly backed away. "Yes, Cid. You make yourself quite clear. Every soul follows its own path, now you follow your own."  
  
"Damn straight," the pilot replied triumphantly. "And don't you @#$%&*# forget it!"  
  
Days passed, many awkward days. During that time, Cid returned his (allegedly feline) brother-in-arms to his home Cosmo Canyon and had no further contact with any one of the heroes he had grown to know so well. Cid kept totally to himself; the only words spoken of him were rumors.  
  
Finally seeking the answers he feared most, Cid piloted his beloved airship into the God-forsaken crater which had almost been the utter destruction of it. Therein lay the Lifestream and all of its spirits. He hoped to squeeze some information out of them or something.  
  
Stepping out of the Highwind, he found himself once again in the Northern Crater, venturing down into its deepest reaches, into the very core of the Planet itself. The Lifestream flowed all around him as if he were submerged in some eerie river of souls. From its steady flow came one figure, humanoid in appearance, yet mostly covering its body in armor that looked strangely draconic. Whoever it was, it had immediately become apparent to Cid that this was not a living man, but a deceased spirit who had escaped from the Flow of Life to address him. The question was, simply, why the spirit had done so.  
  
The soul spoke in a deep, gritty voice. "Are you Cid Highwind?"   
  
"Yeah," Cid answered. "Who the @#$% wants to know?"  
  
The armored figure before him seemed to ignore his profanities entirely. "You are the one I was looking for. What would you do, Cid, if you were told that you were the only one capable of saving the world from an unspeakable evil?"  
  
"What kind of @#$%&*# question is that!?" Cid spat. "I don't care what you say or who you are, I'm never gonna be the ONLY one who can save the damn world."  
  
"What if you lost the Highwind? How would you pursue that evil?"  
  
"Who are you and what're you trying to sell me, for God's @#$%&*# sake! Spit it out already!"  
  
"I am Kain Highwind. You must decide to save the Planet -- for this time, the Planet itself will not be able to aid you."  
  
This had caught Cid's attention. "Decide? Decide WHAT?" Kain's ghastly form faded away and merged once again with the Lifestream. "Hey! Come back here you bastard! I ain't done with you yet!!" Nothing happened. After waiting silently for the spirit to return to him -- without success -- Cid heaved a long, exhausted sigh. "Damn it to hell."  
  
All around him, the constant motion of the Planet's Mako energy seemed to slow gradually. Cid cautiously ascended back to the Highwind, peering down into the abyss, only to see that the Planet's life force had seemingly become a motionless solid -- and it was expanding rapidly, consuming everything with which it came into contact. The old pilot strongly considered getting in the Highwind and moving the hell out, but he knew it would take too long to start it up. He had no choice -- he ran, looking over his shoulder, helplessly watching as his little baby was consumed by the condensed Mako.  
  
He had no idea what had just happened, yet for some unknown reason, his words to Nanaki -- which he had only spoken earlier that day -- lingered in his mind.  
  
"I will NOT become a @#$%&*# Dragoon unless the Lifestream freezes over", he had said. He hadn't meant it in a literal way at all, yet the irony of the actual occurence was remarkable.  
  
"I'm just having a GREAT DAY," he grumbled.  
  
Time passed -- a day, to be exact. Cid had taken shelter in the Icicle Inn, yet he knew he could not stay there for long. He would have to return to his friends somehow. "Friends?" he wondered, stepping outside of the house in which he'd found a place to sleep, oblivious at the same time of the tail directly under his foot.  
  
A crimson animal growled vengefully and whipped its body around to snap at the human. This was before the two recognized one another. "Cid..!! Thank Jenova I found you!" The creature would have let out a relieved sigh, yet at the same time he was far too panicked to do so. "Meteor has returned! Grandpa told me before he died that this would happen, but until now I wasn't sure if I should believe it."  
  
Cid scratched his chin. "So that's what happened, huh.. I knew something weird was going on. The Lifestream has actually frozen over -- it even swallowed up the Highwind, and that can't just be from a 'natural' cause." Red XIII nodded. The pilot lit a cigarette, drew in a sharp breath, and let out two simple phrases. "Get me out of here -- we're going to Wutai."  
  
"Wutai?" Nanaki arched a brow. "Why would you want to go there?"  
  
"That was where we found the Dragoon Lance," Highwind replied matter-of-factly. "And then there was that fire nobody could put out. I'm itchin' to know what's actually behind that fire.. and if I didn't know better I'd say it was more Dragoon stuff for me to use."  
  
"You mean you're..." Red XIII looked up. "You ARE going to become a Dragoon, then? Live up to your family name? Save the Planet?"  
  
"Yeah," Cid answered. "That's the plan anyway."  
  
"Somehow I foresaw that," Nanaki said dryly. "Well, then, if the Highwind is gone, we can still reach Wutai using the Tiny Bronco. Cloud and I left it just outside of Bone Village."  
  
"Cloud? You let that crazy @#$% pilot the Bronco? What, do you have a death wish?"  
  
"Well, no. But it is quite hard to pilot that thing myself. Now come with me -- Cloud is waiting for us in the Forgotten Capitol, I think."  
  
"Uh.. Wait." Cid shook his head. "How the @#$% did you find me here, anyway?"  
  
"Trial and error. We've been looking for you since you left me back at Cosmo Canyon. I called Cloud on the PHS and told him to bring me the Tiny Bronco so we could look for you. Now come on, we're taking you to Wutai."  
  
Cid and Nanaki traveled through the snow back to the City of the Ancients. Both felt a chill go through their bodies as they entered the resting place of what had once been the last Cetra, yet neither of the two ever said a word as they traversed back through the Capitol. At the end of the path, they finally met up once again with their third party member. Nanaki saved Cid the trouble of explaining everything..  
  
"...Wutai. Alright then, let's go." Cloud shrugged nonchalantly and led the two back through Bone Village and to the Tiny Bronco.  
  
Cid was aghast. "What the @#$% did you do to it!?"  
  
"We repaired it," Cloud answered. "Try it."  
  
They stepped into the plane, starting up its engine and whatnot, and the Bronco did indeed begin to hover above the ground. "Hot damn!!" Cid laughed. "It's flyin'!!"  
  
"Now," Red XIII proudly said, "let us go to Wutai."  
  
Cid piloted the Tiny Bronco toward the continent of Wutai, uttering a triumphant "Hell yeah!" 


End file.
